The Tank Turns Out The Lights For DarkFest 2018 August 1-4

By: Jul. 16, 2018
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The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) is turning off the lights for DarkFest 2018, a festival and environmental initiative celebrating innovative performances that utilize self-sufficient and alternative energy sources. Artists are using everything from glow-in-the-dark mouth guards to flashlights and more to shed some light on their work. But don't worry, we'll keep the AC on! DarkFest 2018 will run August 1-4 in both the 56-seat and 98-seat theaters at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). Tickets ($3-$15) may be purchased in advance at www.thetanknyc.org.

Resident Alien

Created by Leo Chang; Directed by Helen Handelman

Wednesday, August 1 @ 7pm $10

In Resident Alien, the audience will observe as performers are guided through a unique process named Group Listening. The objective of Resident Alien is for the performers to transform a fixed electronic piece into a structured, live sound performance. One designated performer will play the role of the alien; they will be listening to a completely different electronic media piece on headphones while the other players are listening through speakers. Throughout their performance, the group will continuously shape their (re)constructed composition by alternating between attentive listening, improvising, and exchanging verbal feedback. They must reckon with the question of what it means to succeed as a group. In doing so, Resident Alien metaphorically facilitates a process of assimilation between the alien and the rest of the group via this performance practice.

Radium Prototype

Directed by Talia Feldberg

Wednesday, August 1 @ 9:30pm, August 2 @ 7pm $12

Radium is first discovered in 1898, and immediately hailed as a world-changing scientific miracle. Thirty years of widespread public obsession later, five gravely ill ex-radium workers successfully sue their former employer. Eventually, these "Radium Girls" will inspire similar lawsuits and prove a watershed for labor rights, but first, they make headlines as the first diagnosed victims of radium poisoning. After three decades of the element's ubiquity. What was going on all that time? Radium Prototype is an in-progress presentation of a new untitled show about the early 20th century's dream discovery and the women for whom it became a nightmare. Using a kaleidoscopic range of primary sources and original work, Radium Prototype covers radium's first twenty-five years: a story of scientific achievement gone amok, humankind's hubris in the face of new technology, the pitfalls of public phenomena, and the perils of consumer culture.

Shot in the Dark: Program B

Thursday, August 2 @ 8pm; Saturday, August 4 @ 8pm $10

DarkFest's variety show of work all done without lights from The Tank's grid. Program B will feature Underneath by Christopher Wolter, Rocks Algae Water Stars by Jonathan O'Neill, and A Dance Piece by Anna-Christina Betekhtin.

Cracked Mirror

Created by Collin Knopp-Schwyn

Presented by A Horse That Is Bigger Than All The Other Horses

Thursday, August 2 @ 9:30pm $8

Before pig-f-ing prime ministers, murder bees, and immortal queer ladies in '80s beach towns, there were other stories about new developments that frightened the world: credit cards, cuneiform, municipal garbage collection, animal husbandry, the Zune, etc. Inspired by the technological alarmism of ?Black Mirror?, ?Cracked Mirror is a sketch show about laughing at the fears of the past, just as our descendants will no doubt laugh at whatever scares us now.

Matilde's Inferno II: Reloaded

Created by Elliot Nye, Grace Wagner, Payton Smith, Tam Nguyen, C Swan-Streepy

Friday, August 3 @ 3pm $3

Matilde is back and fierier than ever. Watch her light the way through a world part Inferno, part 2001: A Space Odyssey, part touching flick the family will love. It's dark, she's reloaded, and you're in for the ride of your life. Warning: There will be lots of puppets.

Pos-sessed is a Verb

Written by Cherry Lou Sy, Performed by Jax Jackson

Friday, August 3 @ 7pm $12 advance; $15 at the door

What does it mean to be in control? How do you know that what you are experiencing is real? What does it mean to be you when you are channeling someone else's words and experiences? Possessed is a Verb explores the ideas of spirit possession, ancestral lines, silence, trauma, ownership, authorship, appropriation and intertextuality through the lens of playwright Cherry Lou Sy's childhood, young adulthood and the stories that she's told.

Shot in the Dark: Program A

Saturday, August 4 @ 7pm; Sunday, August 5 @ 7pm $10

DarkFest's variety show of work all done without lights from The Tank's grid. Program A will feature Bound by Adrian Burke and Jess Kelley and Tao by Ran Xia.

Heredamos Nada

Written by Avery Rodriquez, Directed by Michaela Escarcega

Saturday, August 4 @ 9:30pm $8 advance; $10 at the door

What does it mean to have cultural responsibility? Belen grew up in the United States, knowing she was proud of her Mexican heritage. But when her sister Izzy says their parents will be sent to a retirement home, Belen finds herself the sole defender of her family's cultural values. In this story, three siblings grapple with their differing views of the Mexican American identity, and challenge each other to either accept or deny what they were born into. How will Belen interact with her sister, who insists they have no real ties to their Mexican heritage? How does who we love affect how we culturally identify? Do we all have a responsibility to maintain the cultures passed down to us? And will Belen to save her parents before it's too late?

The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter serving emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression. We serve over 2,000 artists every year in over 400 performances, and work across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, public affairs, and storytelling. Our goal is to foster an environment of inclusiveness and remove the burden of cost from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form. The heart of our services is providing free performance space in our 98 seat proscenium and 56 seat blackbox that we operate in Manhattan, and we also offer a suite of other services such as free rehearsal space, promotional support, artist fees, and much more. We keep ticket prices affordable and view our work as democratic, opening up both the creation and attendance of the arts to all.

Past Tank produced-work includes Drama Desk-nominated productions Ada/Ava (2016), youarenowhere (2016), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), and The Hunger Artist (2018), as well as New York Times Critics' Pick The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016). Since its founding in 2003, artists who have come through The Tank include Alex Timbers, Amy Herzog, Lucy Alibar, Mike Daisey, Reggie Watts, Kyle Abraham, Andrew Bujalski, We Are Scientists, and tens of thousands of others. www.thetanknyc.org



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